Adding and Formatting a Date/Time Stamp to a node in the Task Builder

How to add and format a date/time stamp in the parameter field of a node in the task builder.

Usage

There are many ways to get a date or timestamp into a node on the task builder. You can pass it from an answer on a request, or you can send it as a result through a trigger. In this article you will learn the basics of how to use ruby to add it directly from a parameter field in a node in the task builder.

What is the use case for this? Often, task trees are in a deffered or wait status while another process completes, or a person makes a decision. When this is the case, you may want to record the date and time that a tree retarts or continues. One of the easiest ways to do this is to record the date/time when the node is processed. If you need to format this nicely, using ruby in the node is an excellent option.

Example

The most basic way to add a date/time is with the ruby method DateTime.now. Used in a parameter it should appear like this <%=DateTime.now%>. This will give you a very basic time stamp - set to GMT. It will look like this:

2012-03-21T09:37:31-05:00

You can also format the date/time using the strftime method. It allows you to use parameters to present the date in the format you require. Documentation on the parameters is found here:

One thing to be aware of is your timezone. The date/time is calculated from the timezone of the web server running the task engine. If you need a different time zone, you will need to provide that when either creating your time, or you will need to do some date/time calculations.

Here are some screenshots for illustration:

Parameter field from the node (node creates an entry in the KS_SAMPLE_Incident form)